Invite God Into the Chaos

It’s 7:40 in the morning. I should already be showered and ready for work, but I cannot pull myself out of bed this morning. With each passing beep of the alarm, my mind skips to my weighty heart. Instead of waking up and embracing the gift of a new day, I try to rest, thinking this:

That fight with a loved one.

Snooze.

Disciplinary issues at school.

Snooze.

Remembering just how far I live from family and friends.

Snooze.

Politics and current events.

Snooze.

Student loans.

Snooze.

Oh, and laundry. I still have to do that pile (read: mountain) of laundry staring at me from the corner of my room.

Snooze. Snooze. Snooze.

And just like that, I’m late for work, no more rested than I would have been if I’d arisen with the first alarm.

I am exhausted by my life. It’s complex, confusing, overwhelming and uncontrollable. But if I allow God to be with me in the chaos, I can push through the challenging into the comforting.

Today we hear echoes of God’s desire to meet us right there in the exhaustion. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest . . . for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Our Creator intimately knows the struggles of humanity and is patiently waiting for an invitation to enter into those hardships—not to erase them, but to help carry the weight.

They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. (Isaiah 40:31) I still have to get out of bed and work on that list that seems impossible, I still have to run or walk, but thankfully I will not grow faint, for I have a God who will work right alongside me—even on that mound of laundry.

Are you facing a hardship today that feels crushing? Take Our Lord and Lady and invite them into it, asking for their help. You are sure to find it.

Sarah Stanley is a small town Ohio girl who is mildly obsessed with all things Ignatian and is very passionate about faith, social justice, and the intersection of the two. She recently earned her Master of Divinity and now serves as the Director of Christian Service at a high school in New England. When she’s not working, she enjoys contagious laughter, travel, clever puns, and finding the good in all things. You can find out more about her here.